Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection:

An Inventory of the Collection at the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center

Creator:

Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection
(Performing Arts)

Title:

Playscripts and
Promptbooks Collection

Inclusive Dates:

1795-1978

Bulk Dates:

bulk 1870-1915

Abstract:

The collection contains
promptbooks, stage managers' workbooks, preparation and rehearsal copies, and
unused scripts. The majority of the items are marked copies that appear to have
been used in the production process. Prominent authors and theatrical managers
represented are John Philip Kemble, Charles Frohman, Arthur Wing Pinero,
Lillian Hellman, and Dion Boucicault.

RLIN Record #:

TXRC02-A0

Extent:

17 document
boxes, 1 oversize box (7.39 linear feet)

Repository:

Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at
Austin

The Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection, 1795-1978 (bulk
1870-1915), contains promptbooks, stage managers' workbooks, preparation and
rehearsal copies, and unused scripts for 100 dramas, comedies, musical
comedies, and other dramatic works, many of which were staged in New York or
London. The majority of the items in this collection are marked copies that
appear to have been used in the production process. Among the prominent authors
and theatrical managers represented are John Philip Kemble, Charles Frohman,
Arthur Wing Pinero, Lillian Hellman, and Dion Boucicault. Items document
stagings at Covent Garden, Drury Lane, and the Adelphi and Portsmouth Theatres
in England, and at the Empire Theatre in New York. Organized alphabetically by
author, the collection can also be accessed via the Index of Authors and
Production Personnel following the folder list.

Many of the materials in this collection can be linked to the
stage of production at which they were created or used. Cuts and alterations to
the text are found in preparation copies, which record the director's ideas
before any further work has been done, and in rehearsal copies. Promptbooks and
stage managers' workbooks contain notes for cues, calls, scene shifts, effects,
and other warnings necessary to coordinate a stage performance. Some of the
promptbooks are probably final or souvenir promptbooks, made up afterward as a
record of the production. Also included are unused typescripts, often with
plots and ground plans, in which the stage directions are underlined in red but
which lack warnings, cues, or other features of full promptbooks.

The collection is dominated by material associated with a
handful of managers and producers. Two promptbooks marked in John Philip
Kemble's hand record his Covent Garden stagings of
A Cure for the Heartache (1805)
and
Guy Mannering (1816). The office
of the American producer Charles Frohman was the source of typescripts, mostly
unmarked, for eighteen plays, many of which were produced at the Empire Theatre
in New York or in London between 1901 and 1913. It seems likely that a few
other scripts in the collection passed through Frohman's office, though they
are not marked with his stamp. Also included are promptbooks and preparation
copies for Arthur Collins' productions at Drury Lane, piano scores and
promptbooks owned by the British theater manager Frank Hiam, and scripts linked
to stagings by Wilson Barrett, Annie E. F. Horniman, and R. H. Burnside.

Other noteworthy material relates to playwrights and
theaters. Arthur Wing Pinero is represented by a heavily revised copy of
The Profligate; Lillian Hellman,
by a souvenir promptbook for
The Children's Hour; Dion
Boucicault, by an incomplete holograph manuscript for
Janet Pride; and Lord Edward
Bulwer-Lytton by a promptbook for
Money. Other authors include
Augustin Daly, W. Somerset Maugham, J. M. Barrie, Cecil Raleigh, Benjamin
Webster, and Richard Rodgers. In addition to the John Philip Kemble and Arthur
Collins promptbooks for Covent Garden and Drury Lane, the collection holds an
1803 promptbook for
Delays and Blunders that is
marked for both Covent Garden and the Portsmouth Theatre, and two Adelphi
Theatre promptbooks for
The Enchanted Isle and
Belphegor the Mountebank.

Concluding this finding aid is an Index of Authors and
Production Personnel that lists authors, adaptors, translators, managers,
producers, directors, stage managers, and actors. The index does not include
persons whose role in a specific production is unknown.

Promptbooks can also be found in the Department of
Manuscripts and Archives, in the Promptbooks Collection. Published playscripts,
some annotated, are located in the Theater Arts Library.

Note on the Folder List

Because many of the marked copies in this collection are
linked to a specific production, it is sometimes possible to identify who
actually used them. More often, there is a rehearsal copy, for example, but the
particulars of the staging, or even whether an actual performance occurred, are
not known. The fullest possible identification is necessarily based on a blend
of evidence and inference such as that employed by Charles Shattuck in
The Shakespeare Promptbooks: A
Descriptive Catalog. The Format/Description part of the folder list is
modeled after Shattuck and organized as follows: (a) format, including the
presence of ground plans, plots, and other productional material included in
the script; (b) when discernable, what sort of document it appears to be, the
specific production to which it is linked, and the name of the previous owner;
(c) materials pasted or laid in, such as playbills, letters, sketches, and
working papers.

Arrangement

The finding aid for the Playscripts and
Promptbooks Collection is a conflation of the original inventory created in
2000-2001, and of a small addition that was catalogued in 2006. Currently the
addition is described only by a Box List which has been appended to the
original inventory, using the arrangement established with the original
inventory and continuing the box numbering sequence. The Scope and Contents
note and Index of Authors and Production Personnel do not make reference to the
addition, and the RLIN record for the collection summarizes the material in the
original inventory only.

Access:

Open for research. Due to the fragile condition of the
original, a preservation photocopy of the promptbook for
The Children's Hour must be used
unless permission to use the original is obtained from the Research
Librarian.

The Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection was assembled by
Performing Arts staff from a variety of sources, chiefly the Albert Davis and
Messmore Kendall Collections. Other sources were W. H. Crain, Benjamin Blom,
Lester Sweyd, and the University of Texas drama professors Coleman A. Jennings
and Ellsworth P. Conkle. The Covent Garden promptbooks belonged to an Arthur
Williams.

The Girl from Up the
Road 1971Author Ashton, Michael, and David
Heneker (after Ben Travers) (a) One complete typescript and one fragment, n.d.;
song lyrics. Fragment slightly revised.

Box

Folder

16

3-4

The Girl from Up the
Road 1972Author Ashton, Michael, and David
Heneker (after Ben Travers) (b) Retitled
Popkiss, with
additional music by John Addison. Typescript with inserts; song lyrics and
working papers. Heavily marked promptbook for the production at the Globe
Theatre directed by Richard Cottrell (London, 22 Aug.). Song lyrics lightly
corrected.

The Good Woman of
Setzuan (trans. Eric Bentley) n.d.Author Brecht,
Bertolt Typescript with ground plan. Rehearsal copy,
checked for the Old Whore.

Box

Folder

2

3

The Enchanted Isle; or,
Raising the Wind [1848?]Author Brough, Robert B., and
William Brough Acting edition with interleaves. Promptbook for a
production at the Adelphi Theatre.

Box

Folder

2

4

Money n.d.Author Bulwer-Lytton, Edward
George E. Lytton Acting edition pasted in a workbook. Stage
manager's heavily marked promptbook for a production in which John Hare played
Sir John Vesey. Given to Cyril Maude by Hare.

Fancy Meeting You
Again [1951]Author Kaufman, George S., and
Leueen MacGrath Typescript. Lightly marked workbook, apparently for
Kaufman's production at the Locust St. Theatre (25 Dec.). Flier for that
production.

Carnival (trans.
Melville Baker) n.d.Author Molnar,
[Ferenc] Typescript, property of Charles Frohman; used as a
studybook and checked for Nikolaus.

Box

Folder

7

5

A Cure for the
Heartache 1805Author Morton,
Thomas Acting edition with interleaves. Promptbook marked
in John Philip Kemble's hand. Another hand identifies this book as a "C[ovent]
Garden Prompt Copy." In a third hand: "Played for [Samuel] Phelps benefit at
Sadlers Wells, 25 Mar. 1858."

Box

Folder

7

6

The Two Blinds
(also titled
A Mere
Blind) 1874Author Offenbach, Jacques, and
Arthur Clements Holograph manuscript. Clean copy of the libretto
for John Hollingshead's production at the Gaiety Theatre (London, 31 Aug.)

Delays and
Blunders 1795/1803Author Reynolds,
Frederick Acting edition (1803). The cover, inscribed "Thomas
Colli[ns]" (manager?) and "Collins Davies," was previously used at the
Portsmouth Theatre (Eng.) to hold a copy of
Such Things Are (1795).
Promptbook, marked for Covent Garden and corrected in the same hand for the
Portsmouth Theatre (1803), as explained in a note in a second hand. Date of use
at Portsmouth is supplied in a third hand; cuts are restored in a fourth
hand.

None but the
Brave 1905/1907Author Shirley, Arthur, and
Sutton Vane Holograph manuscript. Heavily marked promptbook,
apparently for the performance at the New Theatre, Cambridge (Eng.) in which
Stanley Bedwell played Lal Ray. Copied by Bedwell (4 Dec. 1905) and stamped by
a typewriting agency (3 Aug. 1907). Also belonged to George Shirley. Clipped
review of the New Theatre production.

A Daughter of Old
Glory n.d.Author Stagg,
Katherine Typescript with corrections.

Box

Folder

11

4

The Snowman (later
titled
The Girls of
Holland) [1907]Author Stange, Stanislaus, and
Reginald de Koven Typescript, property of R. H. Burnside and
presumably for his production at the Lyric Theatre, [18 Nov.]

Beauty and the Beast; or,
The Enchanted Flagon, the Wishes Three, and the Magic Branch of the Withered
Tree. ndAuthor Stephens, Clement
W. Holograph manuscript with dramatis personae from a
printed edition pasted inside front cover; plot of entrances, exits, and
properties laid in. Appears to be a souvenir promptbook. Belonged to Frank
Hiam.

Box

Folder

17

7

The Yellow Dwarf; or, The
Pretty Princess, the Magic Spell, and the Silver Bee of the Mystic
Dell. 1883-1884Author Stephens, Clement W., Fred
Eplett, and George Le Brunn Holograph manuscripts: (a) Piano score, property of
Frank Hiam; (b) one page of what appears to be the promptbook, n.d.

Guy
Mannering 1816-1834Author Terry, Daniel (after Sir
Walter Scott) Acting edition, n.d., with interleaves. Promptbook
for the 1815-16 season, heavily marked in John Philip Kemble's hand, presumably
for the premiere at Covent Garden (12 Mar. 1816). In another hand are stage
directions, timings, and interpolations for various performances between 1820
and 1834. A third hand attributes these notes to the Covent Garden stage
manager.

Box

Folder

12

4

No
Answer 1954/1981Author Tuttle, Day Typescript (1954). Preparation or rehearsal copy
(1981), "greatly cut and expanded" from the version staged at Yale Drama School
in 1936.

Box

Folder

12

5

Inconstant
George 1909Author Unger, Gladys (after
Robert de Flers and Gaston-Arman de Caillavet) Typescript (26 July), property of Charles Frohman
and presumably for his staging at the Empire Theatre (20 Sept.)

Box

Folder

12-13

6, 1

Love
Watches 1908Author Unger, Gladys (after
Robert de Flers and Gaston-Arman de Caillavet) (a) Typescript (Aug.), property of Charles Frohman
and presumably for his production at the Lyceum Theatre (27 Aug.)